Buck playfully suggests Maier-related gift for Jeter

BALTIMORE -- The Orioles have about a month before they will unveil their gift to Yankees captain Derek Jeter, who will make the final trip of his career to Camden Yards for a series starting Sept. 12. But manager Buck Showalter already has an idea, and it involves Jeffrey Maier.

"We are all excited here he's retiring, OK? For a lot of reasons," Showalter said playfully of Jeter prior to Monday's series opener against New York. "We were talking about what you get him as a gift. I would give him a big picture of the home run [Maier caught]. Well, it wasn't a home run, we know that. That's what I would give him a big picture of and have the whole Baltimore Orioles team sign it.

"It's a good idea. It's cheap, too, right? Make it in bronze. Not that we remember that."

As a 12-year-old boy, Maier, a Yankees fan, pulled Jeter's ball into the right-field stands at Yankee Stadium for a game-tying home run in Game 1 of the 1996 American League Championship Series. Then Orioles right fielder Tony Tarasco and manager Davey Johnson argued -- rightfully so -- that Maier interfered with a ball in play, but the home run call stood. The Yankees went on to win the game in extra innings, and eventually the ALCS en route to a World Series win.